RECS: 20 fic (Star Wars) (Reply)

SHARING TIME: ღ - Sigh, a month already? I could have sworn it was only like two weeks or so. No, that's fine. orz ღ - BUT OKAY. Have some of my favorite Obi-Wan & Anakin gen and/or pre-slash fics this time. \:D/

AND ONTO THE RECS: Star Wars - 20 Fanfics

→ Wake the Storm by bedlamsbard, obi-wan & anakin & cast, 75.4kConsidering that he had picked up what was probably a Sith artifact, promptly passed out in the middle of a war zone, and apparently woken up twenty years in the future with Obi-Wan having taken up residence in his head, Anakin thought he was entitled to have a few questions. So, I pretty much sunk into this fic and didn't come out again until I'd read the whole thing, I just absolutely couldn't put it down! My only caveat is that, while the build-ups and suspense are stellar, you just kind of have to roll with that the fic is not as strong at reveals. The way the fic is structured, there's a lot of "omg when will Character A find out about Character b????" that don't necessarily happen or happen late in the fic or aren't pieced together when they should be or aren't dwelled on for long. I don't think this is a huge detriment, so long as you know what you're getting ahead of time, though, because what the fic is about (Anakin skipping around the timeline and other universes, dragging Obi-Wan along with him) is absolutely fantastic. The writing is incredibly engaging, it's the kind where I find this far more readable than a lot of professionally published books, that the plot structure and pacing of the scenes is all rock solid for me. (Tbh, probably the only reason any caveats occur to me at all is because the fic as a whole is so well written.)

The characterization is lovely and gets at the heart of what I wanted--where Anakin experiences the destruction and tragedy that happens, his horror at it solidified by the time he finds out his connection to it, as well as his interaction with Obi-Wan is strengthened up because of what Obi-Wan has been through and how he's seeing Anakin again and how much time he's had to think over the events of Anakin's future. The plot is interesting and the fic spends time with each world but doesn't linger and there has clearly been thought given to setting all of it up, but it blends into the story perfectly, like... you know those fics you can pick up and just read and read and read because they're so engaging and written with such good pacing that you don't want to put it down, that even when it shifts gears, you find yourself rolling right along with it because you want to know what happens next? That's what this fic did for me, I was so curious about where it was going next and how this was all going to affect them.

While this story itself is gen, you can tell that the story is heading towards Obi-Wan/Anakin/Padme, so it spends time building Obi-Wan/Anakin back up and shifting it to romantic instead of platonic, that it doesn't happen here at all, but you can feel how desperately Anakin loves Obi-Wan and how Obi-Wan has been given the time to really reflect on feelings and attachment and on Anakin in general, so that I believe it. Plus, I'm a sucker for all the little touches, like Anakin sleeping on Obi-Wan or the way he touches Anakin after he goes through a tough time, it got me right in the feelings place, to go along with the intriguing greater story. I am now going to proceed to dive right into the monster sequel fic and probably roll around in my feelings some more.

→ Bedside Manner by Spongyllama, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka, 3.2kAnakin falls victim to the common cold, and Obi-Wan is very lacking in his bedside manner. I think this is my favorite fic of the author's yet because, oh, is it ever perfect. It's an absolutely pitch perfect balance of humorous moments and the intensity of feelings I had about the characters! I love love love when one character is a whiny baby when they're sick, but I love it even more when the whiny brat is selfish and demanding about their favorite person taking care of them. And then I love it still yet more when that favorite person is a mix of NO SYMPATHY and genuine love. All wrapped up in hilarity and great comedic timing from the writing! Every moment of this fic was joy, from Anakin trying to avoid Obi-Wan because he knew he'd get in trouble for not resting to Anakin being whiny about no, Obi-Wan's special soup is only for him to not taking his medicine to wanting Obi-Wan to stay with him the whole time to Obi-Wan's complete and total terrible bedside manner to the ending when you see just how deeply they love each other. Oh, I was over the moon for this fic.

→ Fire and Ice by Yesac, obi-wan & anakin + padme & luke & leia & cast, 111.9kAnakin wins the duel on Mustafar, but doesn't kill Obi-Wan. Along with Padme, Obi-Wan finds himself living in a chaotic world where the man he thought he knew has become the thing he swore to destroy. Can Anakin be turned back? If so, what then? This fic consumed me for the last few days because it's something I had no idea that I wanted as badly as I did. The first half of the fic is about Anakin won the duel at Mustafar but his need for Obi-Wan's affection means he keeps Obi-Wan prisoner in his apartments instead, along with Padme. The characterization is gorgeous, where Anakin is unstable and volatile and explodes at unpredictable times, all while you can feel how convinced he is that he's right, that if Obi-Wan and Padme would just listen to him, they would understand, if they would just stop fighting him, stop being angry with him, then things would be good again. Obi-Wan's careful interaction with Anakin, cut off from the Force as he is, strides the balance between not giving in, but not flinging himself into a suicidal confrontation, either. And Padme is this lovely, steady, solid presence that made me fall in love with her even more, that she's so kind and caring but she also cannot get past this.

The emotional beats of the story are spot on, so by the time that Anakin breaks apart (as you know he will) and things crumble for him and he frees himself from the Dark Side, the confrontation with Obi-Wan is the most emotionally satisfying thing I've read in ages, it was exactly what my id wanted while also being brilliantly written. The second half of the story is about Anakin's redemption, as well as being... okay, the fic is entirely gen, Obi-Wan sees Anakin as a brother/son and Anakin sees him as a brother/father figure, but frankly they run off to Tattoine to raise Luke and Leia together and they practically revolve around each other. It's Obi-Wan/Anakin without any kissing, so it works on a gen level or if you're interested in more for them, even if the author doesn't intend it.

The pacing is perfect, the characterizations are fantastic (oh, this Anakin is one I was so in love with, but let me tell you about the stars in my eyes every time Obi-Wan was on the page), the writing is smooth and utterly readable, I could just get lost in the fic so easily. I read this because I love this relationship, how they're the most important to each other in the entire universe along with Luke and Leia (who are fucking precious and absolutely perfectly used) and the struggle between what it means to be a Jedi versus what they find along the way, and the build-up to the explosive scenes and the resolution of them, all of it was engrossing as hell and this is one of my favorite things I've ever read.

→ All But Name by Mirror and Image, obi-wan & anakin + padme & dooku & qui-gon & yoda & ocs & cast, 107.9k"You will be a Jedi, Anakin. I promise you. In all but name." Oh, let me tell you my feelings about this fic. By the time it was finished, despite that I'd just read a novel's worth of fic, I was so sad it was ending because it's such a great build-up and great characterization and great pacing and great story. When I first started reading, I was a little wary because Obi-Wan didn't entirely feel like himself to me, despite that I acknowledged that he was grieving and he was just post-TPM and hadn't had the time to progress yet, but by the halfway point of the fic I got it, I understood why the story made all the choices it did, why it put Obi-Wan into the situations and places that it did, because it absolutely was about a larger path that he was following and the Force needed him to be right where he was at those specific moments. By the end of the fic, you can see the care and thought that was put into the story, why everything happened the way it did, in addition to how much insight and care the authors put into Anakin's development as a young child still emotionally and mentally developing. It's not just that the writing is really smooth and easy to become engrossed in, it's not just that there's a plot happening (maybe not that many light saber battles, but there are some and it's a great balance between the quieter moments of their lives and the healing process they go through and the bigger, more epic moments of their lives), but also that I cared deeply about the characters.

It's a fic that's about Obi-Wan and Anakin's early days and how things are different when they're no longer part of the Jedi Order, how that subtly changes their dynamic until it's entirely different (and yet still entirely recognizable) from where they ended up in canon. It's one of my new favorite fics because it does justice to how those changes start small, how Anakin has more freedom to express his attachments and emotional instability because they're not at the Jedi Temple and because Obi-Wan doesn't have the support from others, so he can't be as strict about it, plus he too needs that emotional connection in the wake of his own losses, until they've grown close and found a better way for Anakin to deal with his anger and emotions, because they were nudged in just the right direction for it. It doesn't villainize anyone (not even the Jedi Order is villainized, thankfully! they're not perfect and some characters are furious at them, but they're still good people) but instead gives these characters a different path to follow, one that I could see the canon characters going down if they'd had these circumstances instead. That thought and care was given to how they would interact with each other, how each of their mindsets and motivations would affect their interaction, that Anakin's anger and restlessness aren't just swept aside, but instead tackled head-on, in a more subtle sort of way. Reading the author's notes really gave a look into how much thought was put into his development and I loved it for that.

But ultimately, at its heart, this is a fic about Obi-Wan and Anakin becoming much more emotionally available to each other as they both develop over the months they figure out their new lives, it's a fic about having only each other to rely on and that creates a more intense bond, even as it nearly threatens to drown them. It's a fic about Obi-Wan grieving his losses and struggling to hold onto what he can, dealing with depression and coming through it after a struggle, it's a fic about learning to accept help from those who care about them. It's about all those things, but it's also about how awesome Obi-Wan is, how brilliant a negotiator he is, about how morally unbreakable he is, about how he's amazing in so many ways, as well as just how much sheer, raw potential Anakin has, how he's such a caring little moppet even when he's a trouble magnet. It was a fic that I legitimately respected on a technical level, but it won my heart for giving me so much that pleased my id at the same time! And that's not even getting into how fascinating Dooku was in the last third of the fic, how I loved his addition to the story and every interaction he had with Obi-Wan was absolutely satisfying as hell. This is a fic that is really, really worth reading and this is why I got into the Star Wars fandom in the first place!

→ A Good Place to Die by Valairy Scot, obi-wan & anakin (pre-slash?) + some anakin/padme & yoda & bant & cast, some violence/injury, 115kExhausted after over a year of fighting in the Clone Wars, our heroes are sent on another mission to a vacation paradise planet. This mission brings danger and the aftereffects may very well shatter the deepening friendship between Master and Padawan. This fic consumed me for the last several days and I am going to try to write a coherent rec for it, when all I really want to do is just keyboard smash like you wouldn't believe. I admit that the fic is OTT in places, some of the reactions aren't really earned, as well as I would say Obi-Wan would be less "this is all my fault" and more "get your shit together, Anakin" (in a supportive way), but at the same time, what the fic does is takes issues that are absolutely there in canon and puts them in a high pressure cooker and watches everything explode in the most satisfying for me way possible. This is 115k of Anakin absolutely losing his shit when Obi-Wan is near fatally wounded, in a really selfish and hypocritcal and emotionally messy way that is entirely, entirely accurate to his character. Anakin is a character--especially at this point in his life--where he thinks that he's ready to be a Knight, that he's ready to be on his own, then something happens and he has to actually stand on his own for awhile, and he absolutely cannot handle it, he swings wildly between various emotions, he's angry and hurt and terrified and desperately doesn't want Obi-Wan to die because he still needs his Master.

It's 115k of Obi-Wan's slow path to recovery and how he protects Anakin still, how he tries to make things easier on Anakin, how he tries not to burden his Padawan, tries to give him the space to be happy, how he just cannot take Anakin's happiness away, not even when he needs help. It's an exploration of Obi-Wan's struggle to accept help (instead of always giving it), to open up emotionally to Anakin, just as much as it's about Anakin's absolutely horrible reactions when something bad happens. It's chock-full of those moments that are an absolute struggle to get through to the other side of because they're both so terrible at communication, it's a fic that's all about how Obi-Wan tries to encourage Anakin's indepedence and respect his privacy, while Anakin just desperately wants Obi-Wan to shove him into a chair and make him talk about these things. It's a fic that's about how there's such affection there (all the little memories of how Anakin used to crawl into Obi-Wan's bed or curl up against his side when he needed comfort or the forehead kisses were so good for me), yet also you see how the distance has grown between them.

It's a fic that absolutely nails how much I want to just smack Anakin for his reactions, how much of a brat he is, how selfish and hypocritical and hurtful he is when he lashes out, how he was wrong in his reactions, but while also still completely loving him, that is exactly how I should feel about Anakin Skywalker. He's does and says horrible things and is selfish and hurts people who love him, but I still get why they love him and I still love him myself, I would still move mountains to help him. It's a fic where you get that Anakin really does need someone to grab him by the scruff of the neck and make him apologize for the shitty things he's done and to put him back in his place because he needs someone else to set the boundaries. There's even a moment towards the end that shows how Anakin loves both Padme and Obi-Wan, that he gets different things from them, and it's only a brief moment but it nailed how I feel about these two characters in his life. It nailed how he's so incredibly sorry afterwards, how much he hates himself, how Palpatine twists things around and makes Anakin's inability to trust in the love from others all the worse. It's a fic that also had some great Obi-Wan & Yoda moments, some great moments with Bant and Garen, that I could see undercurrents of Obi-Wan/Anakin to go with the textual moments of Anakin/Padme, it's a fic that's about how Obi-Wan and Anakin do love each other, how they can say it to each other, how they can finally understand a few more things about each other. It's long and just one id-satisfying amazingly cathartic read that left me entirely sated by the end of it.

→ Dooku Captured, Pt 2 by DarthNickels, dooku & anakin & obi-wan & palpatine & yoda, 16.6kDooku is taken alive onboard the Invisible Hand, and Sidious' web is torn. The Sith Lord wonders if death might have been preferable to clumsy interrogation by Anakin Skywalker. I absolutely fell in love with this fic because it's a great balance of, as the tag says, Dooku being a cranky Sith grandpa and of his presence changing things just enough to avoid some really tragic turns. The writing is fantastic, the characterization is great, and it gets that blend of Anakin being the Chosen One, the most special, with that he's kind of an idiot sometimes/a lot of times. There's this sense of underlying humor about the whole thing, yet it doesn't sacrifice the drama of it, I never took it less than seriously, and the possibilities that it brought up and explored were fantastic, making it such a satisfying read. It's also a great look at a character that I didn't expect to be interested in, but absolutely was and honestly have a newfound appreciation for him, which is always nice to find in fic! All of it is absolutely so interesting and the author did justice to the concept of the story.

→ Unconventional Means by OverTheSeas, obi-wan & anakin, spanking, 21.7kObi-Wan does not agree with Anakin's new chosen method of releasing his emotions and decides to take matters into his own hands. I admit, I didn't know how I was going to feel about this fic when I picked it up, but I have a weakness for spanking fic, even if I usually like it in my pairing fic instead. And I admit I skimmed a bit of the first chapter, intending to get to the more interesting stuff, but once I hit the second chapter, I found myself getting genuinely engrossed in the story. What works so well about this fic is that it works better as a platonic relationship, it's not quite parental but it's not quite friendship either but neither is it at all about sex, instead this is entirely about emotions and the incredible amount of catharcism that Anakin needs from this. He's wrapped himself up so tightly that he spills his emotions all over the place, he needs to vent them out and nothing else works, and the fic clearly enjoys the actual spanking part of this concept, but it's absolutely centered on the emotional release.

The heart of the fic absolutely nails the issues between Obi-Wan and Anakin, the painful things that aren't being said between them, that this breaking point that Anakin needs to be able to let go of his emotions is something that pulls out things that really needed to be said between them, so you can feel it shifting their dynamic into something healthier, no matter how odd or unconventional this is. And it's not just Anakin's issues that are at the center of this, the fic also understands Obi-Wan's issues and does a fantastic job with them as well, that he was raised as a Jedi, that this is something he doesn't understand, but he loves Anakin and so he forges ahead anyway. The conversations about what's happening, the way Obi-Wan is unmovable about how this is going to happen, the way Anakin is horribly embarrassed (but not in a way that hits my embarrassment squick!) and just wants to ignore the problem, the way this really is about a dom/sub relationship without sex, how Obi-Wan is like the single greatest dom ever and it allows Anakin to work through everything that's tangled up in him, oh, man, it was so good for me.

The fic lovingly takes its time with the aftercare, both in the way Anakin curls up on Obi-Wan and is able to cry, the way Obi-Wan's heart hurts through all of this but he's strong enough to guide them both forward, the way he doesn't like this any more than Anakin, but knows they have to talk about everything, especially about their relationship and how they need something different, jfc, I went into this fic expecting cheesy spanking fic to scratch my id, but instead I got emotional porn and I honest to god would have read 100k of this and I'm so sad I don't have more of this one. So, so satisfying.

→ The Storm is Here by Spongyllama, obi-wan & anakin, 3.2kAnakin tries to deal with his overwhelming guilt and grief in the wake of Obi-Wan's apparent death in the Deception arc of The Clone Wars. Oh, my heart. Anakin's grief after Obi-Wan's death, how he tries to hold it together and just can't, the way it feels like his emotional rug has been ripped out from under him, it's both the most delicious thing and the most painful thing for me to read. The fic does a beautiful job of showing how hard Anakin is trying here, but that his feelings are roiling up in him, until they finally spill over and it hurts so much, not even knowing Obi-Wan will come back makes this much easier to read, in exactly the way it's supposed to. Ouchy, but so good a read.

→ Hypothetically Speaking by skygawker, obi-wan & anakin + mentions of ahsoka, 1.9kAnakin poses a not-entirely-hypothetical question to his former master after Ahsoka chooses to leave the Order. Obi-Wan cannot quite understand why he asked it. Well, my heart hurt by the time I finished reading this fic, because it really is a bittersweet and spot-on look at a question that makes perfect sense the way the fic built it up here. And I appreciate how delicate a line that was to walk, to not be too obvious, that Obi-Wan would be suspicious about what Anakin means while not actually getting it, yet it's perfectly clear to the reader what Anakin is talking about. The line walked for that conversation was perfect, it was so easy to see and so easy to pick up on all the undercurrents and how unbalanced Anakin was and how much my heart hurt for the way things are going wrong, despite that these people care so much about each other and it could have worked out, even when I get why it didn't. This was a fantastic read tonight.

→ Trying to Connect by skygawker, obi-wan & anakin + mentions of obi-wan/satine, 2.7kAnakin tries to talk to Obi-Wan in the aftermath of Satine Kryze's death. It goes about as well as you might expect. Oh, I loved this fic as well, it was such a bittersweet and well-written fic about Anakin stubbornly trying to get Obi-Wan to talk to him about Satine, trying to get Obi-Wan to admit to his feelings, the undercurrent I felt of how desperately Anakin needed Obi-Wan to admit to them because of his own feelings for Padme and for his own feelings about Obi-Wan, as well as the way the conversation didn't go as Anakin expected it to. It was a painful moment and it ends well, but you can see the cracks in the foundation of Anakin's character, so even when it ends on a reasonably good note, there's such heartbreak in it because we know where this is all going. A really good read that I enjoyed a lot, for all that my fannish heart hurt afterwards!

→ Collapse by Susan Zell, obi-wan & anakin & padme (some canon pairing), 27.8kA diplomatic mission goes awry, leaving Obi-wan, Anakin, and Padmé struggling to survive an assassination attempt. This is one of those fics that I went into for a good old fashioned gen action/adventure + whump + Jedi badassery fic and got exactly what I was hoping for! The thing that really won my heart of hearts is that the fic was very into both Obi-Wan and Anakin being incredible with their skills and power as Jedi, that there's a bit of a rough start to the fic, but by the time they're outrunning the assassination attempt, it's just 24/7 hardcore Jedi powers. It's possibly more than they can do in canon, they literally hold half a mountain up at one point, but the fic doesn't overpower one over the other, you can tell the author is greatly fond of Obi-Wan's character, but never at the expense of Anakin or Padme, they're both absolutely wonderful and brilliant in their own ways as well! The other thing that makes it so satisfying is that that badassery comes at a cost, they seriously damage themselves and half of the fic is them being out of comission/too burnt out to do much more than collapse--but, again, the fic does so with care and thought to the characters, so that it's never about weakening them, it's never making them less than they are, it always leaves me feeling, "....whoa." even when they're hurt, because I just saw what they were capable of.

The fic is great about keeping all three characters involved and given focus, even if they don't always have something to do, them being there is important and they all obviously care greatly about each other, so as much as I enjoyed it for the plot, as much as I enjoyed it for the action and powers, I also enjoyed it for the characters themselves. It's one of those really solid pieces that just satisfied the itch I had for genfic, for Obi-Wan getting to do incredible Jedi feats, for Anakin being a fantastic Jedi warrior, for Padme being such a kind and insightful person. It's not terribly long, it's great for whump/iron willed characters, and great just for my gen-loving soul.

→ untitled by elfpen, obi-wan & anakin & ahsoka & rex, 1.5kOkay but imagine the Jedi finding like, holonet fansites about them. I read this entire fic with the biggest :D expression on my face, outright giggling at least twice, and now my face actually hurts because this is so goddamned precious and hilarious and great. The Star Wars universe with a holonet like our internet, with fansites and memes and message boards and of course Anakin and the clones will get in on that, Anakin especially so just to be an irritating little shit to Obi-Wan. And then they make it their mission to try to get Obi-Wan to actually smile on camera and it's the most hilarious, perfect thing with all their attempts and their plotting and just. I LOVE EVERYONE IN THIS BAR, is basically my feeling after reading this, it's so great.

→ Pro Patria Mori by brinnanza, obi-wan & anakin, 1.6kThe planets are starting to blur together, and Anakin hasn’t slept on any of them. This was another lovely fic, not terribly long, and it's just a moment in time, where Anakin is utterly exhausted and so Obi-Wan gently forces him into bed, not letting him get away with winding himself up any further, even (very obviously, so Anakin knows it's coming) using a Force suggestion on Anakin to just sleep already and then stays with him when Anakin asks. It doesn't need to be anything more than that, it's one moment out of their lives and it's almost a quiet one, but comforting and one good thing in the crapsack of a war they're in the middle of. It was a really lovely read that I'm glad to have found.

→ Aftermath by zukoslover, obi-wan & anakin, 3.1k"Hatred, slavery's inevitable aftermath." --Jose Marti, Woman Suffrage Another lovely coda-style fic, this one about Obi-Wan's experiences on Zygerria and Anakin trying to get him to talk about it, which goes about as well as you'd expect, especially when Obi-Wan just wants to drink in peace and not think about anything for awhile. It's a blend of something almost light-hearted in that way they have with all the history and underlying weight that they also have between them, it has good moments and heartbreaking moments, just as these two always should. There's such an easy way between them, the way Anakin just plops down, the way they allow each other into their space, the way they touch each other, the way they talk to each other, it says so much about everything between them. I love that the fic doesn't try too hard, it brings some things to the surface, it exposes some of the cracks in these characters, it takes a good step foward, but it doesn't fix everything and we still know where it all ultimately ends up. It's a great between the scenes of canon fic, though!

→ Ashes to Ashes by Yesac, obi-wan & anakin, 5.3kA few months after the events of The Phantom Menace, Anakin is having nightmares about burning alive. This is a short but lovely piece about the early days of Obi-Wan and Anakin's training, which is sort of cute and seemingly harmless on the surface, but when you know what's coming, is super ouchy underneath that. I love that it's not cold-hearted, you can see the Jedi care, but you also just quietly understand where it all starts going wrong from the beginning, and the fic does that really well.

→ A Good Cause by 221B.B, obi-wan & anakin, 3.3kNot surprisingly, an argument with one's padawan doesn't do one good. No, but, seriously, if you give me a fic where Anakin practically curls up on Obi-Wan because he still needs comfort from his Master even once he's an adult and a Jedi Knight himself? I'm pretty much guaranteed to be yours. And this fic is lovely because it's just a touch of Obi-Wan being amused at Anakin having difficulties with his Padawan, just as Obi-Wan had with Anakin, but then when it actually happens, no, Obi-Wan loves him far too much to be amused, it's still far too soon from their own relationship for him to be anything but sympathetic and wanting to help Anakin. He doesn't fix everything for Anakin, he just cuts through Anakin's emotional spinning and then lets Anakin curl up on him a bit and it really, really worked for me and gave me all the bittersweet warm fuzzy feelings, just like I wanted.

→ From One Generation by Phosphorescent, obi-wan & anakin, 1.5k"What do you know about it, anyway?" Anakin muttered resentfully, scuffing a booted foot against the floor. "You were a perfect padawan, probably just like Ferus karking Olin." His Master’s eyebrows shot up nearly to his hairline. Yesss, I love moppet!Anakin stories and this was a lovely one, where Anakin has gotten in trouble and grumbles about how Obi-Wan wouldn't understand, so Obi-Wan tells him a bit about what he was actually like as a Padawan Learner. It's super adorable and easy to see as part of canon, both of them are absolutely spot on and the conversation has a great flow to it, especially for Anakin's mercurial temper. An absolutely delightful read!

→ Worthy by whereiismymindd, obi-wan & anakin, 1.5k12-year-old Anakin is upset because other Jedi think he isn't good enough. Obi Wan tries to help him, while dealing with some demons of his own. I am always, always here for fic like this, where I feel really badly for poor kidlet Anakin, but Obi-Wan is entirely there to help him back up, to say what he needs to hear, to care for him and protect him, even if it's just emotionally. I loved the moments of Obi-Wan talking about what he was like as a Padawan as well, but mostly it's just about Obi-Wan's utter dedication to how much he cares about Anakin and will protect him. My heart, okay.

→ Learning Curve by ruth baulding, obi-wan & anakin, 5.2kIt is a poor student who does not thereby also teach his master. Two adorable scenes from early on in Anakin's Padawan days, both of which appeal for different reasons! The first is a fic where Obi-Wan has returned after a long delay on a mission and Anakin is upset about how long he's been gone, scared because he was so worried and it's set in an AU where Qui-Gon is still alive and able to help smooth things over a bit, but it's still wholly about Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship and, ahhh, so adorable and heart-tugging! The second is a delight because you absolutely see the ending coming and yet it's no less great because absolutely Obi-Wan can be a bit of a dick on purpose when he wants to get something done. Two scenes from Anakin's early days as Obi-Wan's Padawan and it was a joy to read them both.

→ The Promise by Ripki, obi-wan & anakin, 1.4kUnwilling to leave, Obi-Wan waits beside his young padawan's sickbed. This is pretty much how I see the early days of Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship, yes. That Obi-Wan cared about, grew attached to, and probably loved that little munchkin from the time he was just a year or two older than when we first saw him. I love that this fic did a lovely job of being about feelings, that Obi-Wan knows Anakin will get better when he's sick, but he just can't make himself leave, even though Jedi detachment tells him that he's not actually doing any good here. It's not denial about his feelings, Obi-Wan knows exactly what he feels, but Anakin is always different for him, there's such deep and understated affection and care here that it gave me all the right feelings. It was a fantastic read.